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8 S. C. L. Q. 179 (1955-1956)
A Profession Not a Skilled Trade

handle is hein.journals/sclr8 and id is 181 raw text is: A PROFESSION NOT A SKILLED TRADE JUDGX JOHN J. PARKr** The practice of the law is a profession - not a business or a skilled trade. While the elements of gain and service are present in both, the difference between a business and a profession is essentially this: the chief end of a trade or business is personal gain; the chief end of a profession is public service. Of the three learned professions, says Ruskin, it pertains to the minister to teach, to the physician to heal and to the lawyer to give peace and order to society. This is the function of the lawyer, his reason for existence-not primarily to make money or to assist other men in their personal struggles or difficulties, but to give peace and order to society -to paraphrase the language of Matthew Arnold, to bring wisdom and the will of God out of the heavens to direct the affairs of men. The practice of the profession involves a lawyer in three fundamental relation- ships: his relation to his client, his relation to the law and his rela- tion to the community in which he lives. The standards of the pro- fession grow out of these relationships. The first relationship in which we envision the lawyer is that of attorney and client, a relationship of trust and confidence on the one hand, repaid almost universally by loyalty and devotion on the other. Notwithstanding the tendency on the part of witlings to speak dis- paragingly of lawyers, there is no profession in the members of which the average man reposes greater confidence. Whatever he may say about lawyers generally, he will entrust his own lawyer with secrets that he would not trust with anyone else on earth, not even his physician or his minister, -secrets affecting his life, his fortune and his sacred honor. And after a long and busy life in which I have come in contact with lawyers all over this country as well as in foreign lands, I can say with pride in my profession that I can count on the fingers of a single hand the lawyers that I have known who would in any way betray that trust. The lawyer can be trusted and is trusted by his client, as is no other professional man on earth. I am proud that the history of the profession shows that he is worthy of that trust. This is not to say, however, that it is not necessary to have canons of ethics relating to the relationship of attorney and client and to *Address delivered to the student body of the University of South Carolina Law School, Columbia, S. C., November 30, 1955. o*Chief Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. 179

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